A local speed skater is one step closer to his goal of representing the U.S. in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
Lukas Anderson, a Waverly High School grad, has earned one of the five spots on the U.S. men's speed skating team at the upcoming World University Games in Kazakhstan. It's an international competition, second only to the Olympic Games themselves.
Anderson has been speed skating since age 8 and this will be his first international competition.
We've been following his journey for a while now, highlighting some of his big wins at national competitions while still in high school. Since then, he graduated in the top 10 from Waverly High School in 2016 and started studying at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, while working out at an official U.S. Olympics training site.
We caught of with Lukas and his dad in 2014. He was too young to compete in the Olympic Games that year, but he was focused on his goal.
"It's just really nice to feel like, when you know there's something you want to hit and then you hit it, that feels just amazing," said Lukas Anderson.
In Korea, short track speed skating is their national sport, so it would be crazy to be there at that time," said Eric Anderson, Lukas' dad and coach.
Lukas and his family are hoping for some community support as he prepares to compete in January and February. Making the team for these World University Games, really signals that this mid-Michigan athlete has a real shot at the winter Olympic games in South Korea in 2018.
If you'd like to learn more or help out the family, click here.
